Collapsible mop holder



April 16, 1963 3,085,271

L. A. JANSSEN COLLAPSIBLE MOP HOLDER Filed Obt. 1, 1962 If: g FIG. 4

lNVENTOR FIG- 3 LEROY A. JANSSEN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,085,271 COLLAPSIBLE MOP HOLDER Leroy A. Janssen, 8931 Wabada Ave, St. Louis County, Mo.

Filed Oct. 1, 1962, Ser. No. 227,299 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-147) This invention relates in general to floor mops having detachable mop heads and in particular relates to that type of mop which is provided with a foldable or collapsible frame or mop support.

One of the most widely used mop constructions is that type which makes provision for a pair of pockets disposed at opposite ends of the swab. This pair of pockets is intended to receive and retain the foldable wing elements of the mop head or support.

This type of mop is best adapted for cleaning or janitorial work since the repeated requirement for the removal of the swab from the mop head is dictated by accumulation of dirt on the swab.

The swab is removed in order to clean or launder it. Naturally this is done when the swab is at its dirtiest condition. There is a great reluctance or aversion experienced by the operator when it is time to remove the swab for cleaning or laundering.

One of the principal advantages of my invention is that the hands of the operator need never touch the floorcontacting side or edges of the swab of the mop. The removal of the mop support or mop frame from the swab can be accomplished entirely without grasping the underside or edges of the swab.

Another advantage of my invention is that the swabs tend to shrink slightly during the laundering process. With this shrinkage comes a tendency for the mop swabs to be distorted. The use of my mop support or mop frame stretches the mop swabs to their original size and grips them firmly in a taut relationship so that they may be relied upon to be extended to their furtherest. In this condition they are best adapted to pass under low articles of furniture and machinery and reach furtherest into remote corners.

An additional advantage of my invention is that a simple locking mechanism is provided which afiords safe and sure locking of the mop supports or foldable wings of the mop head in the widespread condition, disposed in the mop head pockets.

A further advantage of the invention is that the collapsible mop utilizes a novel hinge construction and lock bet-ween the foldable and collapsible wings that is extremely rugged and capable of withstanding a great deal of abuse without repair.

Further accruing advantages are that with mops of my construction, a series of mop swabs, each having a special purpose, such as for polishing floors, dusting walls or ceilings, cleaning woodwork, and so forth may be made available for instant use, each to its purpose, with a minimum of labor and without dirtying the operators hands.

The above and other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art and in part will be pointed out specifically hereinafter in connection with the description of the drawing which follows and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a mop utilizing the novel head construction of the present invention;

'FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the head construction in the locked position, the collapsible position of one wing being shown in dotted lines;

FIGURE 3 is an elevation of a portion of the mop handle socket; and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of an element of the mop handle socket.

The mop swab or mop cloth 1 consists of a stout cloth 3,085,271 Patented Apr. 16, 1963 ice fabric having pockets 2 and 3 disposed at opposite ends of the mop swab and a series of fringes 4 which cover the lower surface of the mop swab and projecting beyond the edges of the swab in the conventional manner.

The mop head frame or support consists of two foldable wings 5 and 6 which are secured together by hinge 7. Each wing consists of a curved U-shaped member, provided with a center bar. The foldable wing 5 is provided with the center bar 8, which is welded or otherwise secured integrally to the wing '5 at its left extremity, as seen in FIGURE 1. The right end of the center bar 8 is raised somewhat above and away from the hinge 7 and the looking sleeve 9, in the form of a hollow tube, is free to move along its longitudinal axis with respect to the center bar 8.

Between the hinge 7 and the right end of the wing 6 are disposed the reinforcing struts =10 and 11 which are welded or otherwise secured integrally to the wing 6. The center bar 12 is welded or otherwise secured integrally to the wing 6 at its right end. Center bar 12 is also welded or otherwise secured integrally to the reinforcing struts 1t} and 11. However the left end of the center bar '12 is raised somewhat above and away from the hinge 7, just as was the case with the right end of the center bar 8.

It should be noted from the perusal of FIGURE 2 that the center bars 8 and 12 are inclined at a slight angle to the planes of the foldable wings 5 and 6', respectively. This is most important to the function of the invention since the relationship involved between the inclined angles of the center bars and the hinge 7 provides the basis for the securing of the locked relationship of the wings as shown in FIGURE 2. This will be explained more fully later in this specification.

The mop handle socket is conventional. The mop handle 13' is generally made of wood. The mop handle socket is formed of two members 14 and 15. The member 14 is illustrated in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3. It is shown to consist of an incomplete tubular portion which is firmly pressed around the mop handle 13 and an outspread or flattened portion 16. The flattened portion 16 is provided with a square hole, 17. The cooperative socket member 15 is also provided with a square hole, 18.

The mop handle socket members 14 and 15 are adapted to cooperate as shown best in FIGURE 2. There it will I be noted that the member 15 is disposed against the flattened portion 16 of the member '14. A bolt 19, provided with a square neck 20 is disposed through the socket members 14 and 15. The square neck 20 lies in the square holes 17 and 18 of the socket members 14 and 15, respectively. Riding upon the bolt =19 is the wing nut 21, by means of which the two socket members 14 and 15 may be tightened together.

Grasped between the lowermost ends of the socket members 14 and 15 is the rotatable frame member 22. The central portion of the frame member 22 is grasped by the cooperative socket members. Projecting from the central portion are a pair of legs 23 and 24. Each leg 23 and 24- terminates in a ring 25 and 26, respectively. The rings 25 and 26 are free to rotate on that portion of the center bar 12 which lies between the reinforcing struts 10 and 11.

In operation, to insert the foldable wings 5 and 6 in the pockets 3 and 2 respectively of the swab 1, the position of FIGURE 1 is assumed. The pockets are clean and it is a simple matter to push the wings into the pockets. In this situation the foldable wings assume the positions of FIGURE 2. In FIGURE 2 the left foldable wing 5 is shown in the open position in dotted lines.

To close and lock the foldable wings, the mop handle is merely pressed downward. Thus the folded wings are brought into alignment. The left folded wing 5 is then slightly raised to the position shown in full lines in FIG- URE 2. Thus the center bars 8 and 12 are brought into cooperative straightline relationship. In this position the locking sleeve 9 of FIGURE 1 is moved to the right (FIGURE 2) in which it is approximately centered over the hinge 7 of FIGURE 2 and in which it rides upon and contains the center bars 8 and 12.

It will be noted that in this position the wings 5 and 6 of FIGURE 2 are inclined at a slight angle with respect to each other. Also the hinge 7 has been bent slightly past its openrnost position, or more properly stated, has been sprung slightly past its openmost position. The result of this is that the hinge 7 acts like a spring urging the center bars 8 and L12 to divert from the straightline relationship of FIGURE 2. Thus they exert strong frictional engagement upon the side of the hollow opening in looking sleeve 9 (FIGURE 2), and the locking sleeve 9 will not move from its position as shown in FIGURE 2 when the mop is vigorously used.

The mop swab may be pushed, swung or otherwise moved by use of the mop handle 13. It is free to rotate because of the fact that the frame member 22 rides upon the portion of the center bar 412 which lies between the reinforcing struts 1d and 11.

After the mop swab has become dirty, it is a simple matter to remove the swab from the mop frame. All that is required is to push the locking sleeve of FIGURE 2 leftward so that it assumes the position of FIGURE 1. Then the mop wings 5 and 6 relax, since the spring effect of the hinge '7 has been released, and the mop frame may be merely lifted out and upward from the position of FIGURE 1. Thus the foldable :wings 5 and 6 are automatically drawn from the pockets 3 and 2, respectively. It will be noted that the hands have not been required to touch the dirtied mop swab l in this releasing operation. The mop frame or support is thus ready to be inserted in a cleaned swab as before.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative and explanatory thereof and various changes, variations and modifications in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A collapsible mop head for holding a double pocket swab comprising a pair of opposed, curved, foldable U shaped wings with the bight of the wings outermost, a hinge between said wings and to which said wings are secured, one of said wings being longer than the other, a pair of reinforcing struts integrally mounted on the longer of said wings transverse to the longitudinal axis of said wing, a center bar on said longer wing mounted integrally at one end to the bight of the U-shaped portion and free at the other end above said hinge, a center bar on the shorter of said wings mounted integrally at one end to the bight of the U-shaped portion of said wing and free at the other end above said hinge, a mop handle socket freely rotatable on said longer wing center bar, and a locking sleeve freely slidable on the shorter wing center bar and cooperative to slide upon and engage with the longer wing center bar.

2. A collapsible mop head for holding a double pocket swab comprising a pair of opposed, curved, foldable U- shaped wings with the bight of the wings outermost adapted to fit into and cooperate with said double pocket swab, one of said wings being longer than the other, a hinge between said wings and to which said wings are secured, a pair of reinforcing struts integrally mounted on the longer of said wings transverse to the longitudinal axis of said Wing, a center bar on said longer wing mounted integrally at one end to the bight of the U-shaped portion and mounted integrally also to said reinforcing struts and free at its opposite end above said hinge, a center bar on the shorter of said wings mounted integrally at one end to the bight of the U-shaped portion of said wing and free at the other end above said hinge, a mop handle socket freely rotatable on said center bar of said longer Wing, and a locking sleeve freely slidable on the center bar of said shorter wing and cooperative to slide upon and engage with the long wing center bar to lock the both wings into fixed relationship.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A COLLAPSIBLE MOP HEAD FOR HOLDING A DOUBLE POCKET SWAB COMPRISING A PAIR OF OPPOSED, CURVED, FOLDABLE USHAPED WINGS WITH THE BRIGHT OF THE WINGS OUTERMOST, A HINGE BETWEEN SAID WINGS AND TO WHICH SAID WINGS ARE SECURED, ONE OF SAID WINGS BEING LONGER THAN THE OTHER, A PAIR OF REINFORCING STRUTS INTEGRALLY MOUNTED ON THE LONGER OF SAID WINGS TRANSVERSE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID WING, A CENTER BAR ON SAID LONGER WING MOUNTED INTEGRALLY AT ONE END TO THE BIGHT OF THE U-SHAPED PORTION AND FREE AT THE OTHER END ABOVE SAID HINGE, A CENTER BAR ON THE SHORTER OF SAID WINGS MOUNTED INTEGRALLY AT ONE END TO THE BIGHT OF THE U-SHAPED PORTION OF SAID WING AND FREE AT THE OTHER END ABOVE SAID HINGE, A MOP HANDLE SOCKET FREELY ROTATABLE ON SAID LONGER WING CENTER BAR, AND A LOCKING SLEEVE FREELY SLIDABLE ON THE SHORTER WING CENTER BAR AND COOPERATIVE TO SLIDE UPON AND ENGAGE WITH THE LONGER WING CENTER BAR. 